The Best Thing Ahsoka Ever Did For Him
by ClaptonJr
Summary: Ahsoka leaves the Jedi Temple, nearly in tears about what has just transpired. And, as we all know, Anakin rushes down there to try and talk some sense into her. But unlike on TV, it descends into a screaming match. Anakin makes a tiny slip during the argument, which causes Obi-Wan to discover The Chosen One's marriage. Slightly AU, with plenty of Anakin/Padme and angry Ahsoka.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

She stood, stone-faced, in front of Anakin and the Jedi High Council.

"Ahsoka, I'm so sorry. About everything."

Ahsoka Tano looked toward her once-Master Anakin Skywalker, who wore a pained expression of sadness over his usually-smiling features.

"You have our most humble apologies," Plo Koon stated, sounding regretful like Anakin. "The Council was wrong to accuse you."

"You have shown such great strength, and resilience, in your struggle to prove your innocence," Master Saesee Tiin cut in from the side.

Ki-Al-Mundi continued for him. "This is the true sign of a Jedi Knight."

"This was actually your great trial," Master Windu elaborated. "Now we see that. We understand that the Force works in mysterious ways, and because of this trial, you have become a greater Jedi than you would have otherwise."

She crossed her arms. That wasn't really an apology, now was it? This was what she was destined to be? She had dedicated her lives to the Order, but the Council had so little trust in her they would not stand by her, and then they wouldn't apologize?

This all ran through her mind in a fraction of a second, but its echoes would resound through her life forever. So when Yoda announced, "Back into the Order, you may come," the words seemed wooden and hollow, more so than expected.

She really hadn't said anything, so Anakin stated the obvious. "We're asking you back, Ahsoka." He held out her Padawan braid in his hand, obviously a gesture of reconciliation. She wasn't sure which prevailed in her mind, a perceived patronizing edge to his words, or the obvious regret in his actions.

She looked down, trying to quickly organize her thoughts. Involuntarily, her eyes focused on her old braid. It made her start to think coherently again.

She had no life outside of the Order. It wouldn't be wise if she left, but why should she stay? She had almost nothing left here.

Suddenly her lifelong dream of being a Jedi Knight wasn't so important.

The other Jedi hadn't treated her with any respect or help her in any way, bar Anakin's efforts to expose the real culprit. Why should she even want to associate herself with them anymore?

She looked up at her Master. The sadness and regret in those bright blue eyes had turned to a mixture of expectancy and assurance, with an edge of pleading. She could see how much he wanted her back as his Padawan or a full-fledged Jedi Knight. But was it worth it?

She lowered her gaze again, her sad blue eyes unable to meet his pleading ones.

Even the humility shown to her by her one-time Master would not excuse the actions of Mace Windu, the High Council, or even the rest of the Order.

Making her decision, she gently grasped his wrist with one hand and closed his fist with the other. Shock and disbelief immediately etched themselves into his apologetic expression when he realized what was happening.

"I'm sorry, Master," she said, pulling her hands away from his, "but I'm not coming back."

The look on Anakin's face instantly jumped to the other High Council member's faces. Had they really expected her to come back with open arms, after what they had put her through? _These people are not fit to be the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, _she thought. _I made the right decision._

Before her second thoughts could betray her, she turned and walked briskly out of the council chambers. She could hear the doors slide shut behind her.

She remembered the phrase, "When one door shuts, another one opens." The one behind her, the threshold of her hopes and dreams, was sealed. The next door, the one entering the open main hall of Jedi Temple, would open next. It was, both literally and metaphorically, the door to her freedom that would last the rest of her life.

* * *

That door, which was located towards the bottom of Tranquility Spire turbolift, opened on the floor of the Great Hall. Four stories of height and millennia of accumulated grandeur made her feel microscopic in comparison. Unless this incident initiated a watershed, that was the size of the memory she would leave, just an impossibly small footnote on a piece of paper. A note in the vast archives about the Chosen One's resigning Tortuga padawan.

All around her, giant stone pillars met above her head in giant arches. Ahsoka walked towards the bright light of the exit. Soon, the square vertical exit loomed above her head. She kept walking. And then, it wasn't above her anymore. The cold, relatively dark interior of the Jedi Temple Grand Hall was replaced by blinding beams of sunlight. Feeling the warmth upon her skin, she smiled.

Nonetheless, she still kept walking.

Then, she descended the short staircase just outside of the Eastern Wall.

She walked into the shadow of the rearmost monolithic rectangular pylon. The surrounding area was dark. She continued walking. Within thirty seconds, she was back in the light again.

The Jedi teachings had always mentioned the thin line between the Light Side of the Force and the Dark Side. They said that sometimes, an automatic action could push you back over the line over and over again. She tried to smile at the ironic parallels it drew with her current situation. This was the _de jure_ capital of the Light Side of the Force, as well as most important destination for many force users. But traits of the Dark Side-most notably betrayal-polluted the leaders of the entire residency.

She found no solace in the thought.

Instead, the memories flowed back to her like a Mon Calamari wave.

She paled in comparison to the ancient stone "dominoes" standing around her. But unlike the dominoes they resembled, she wouldn't fall over at the slightest push. In hindsight, she grumbled silently, it was fitting how such things stood at the entrance of a temple dedicated to a fractured galactic order that betrayed its members of the future.

_Someday the dominoes will really fall._

Ahsoka could remember almost every single time she had walked in the exact same spot as a Jedi. But now, she would never come back here again. She closed her eyes in misery, not needing them as she exited the temple. The causeway she stood on, and walking it, were permanently engrained into her mind. Like many of the other teachings, she would spend the rest of her life trying to cleanse her mind of the memories.

She began to vaguely sense that she was being followed. But she didn't care. Nobody could convince her to come back…

"Ahsoka, wait!" begged a voice, the words intermixed with heavy breathing. _Oh, dear Force. Anakin. _she grumbled silently.

Barely opening her eyes, she walked past the front of the first monolith.

"I need to talk to you!" Anakin insisted. Ahsoka stopped, waiting for him to catch up. She turned around to see him speed out of the last shadow, panting, slowly bringing himself to a halt.

"Why are you doing this? He demanded, still out of breath from running. His hands were in front of him, in a gesture of concern.

She leaned forward to look at him more closely. "The council didn't trust me, so how am I supposed to trust myself?" She turned away from him, trying to avoid those prying eyes.

"What about me?" he asked, becoming angry. "_I _believed you. _I_ stood by you!"

Of course he had to say that, she thought. "I know you believe in me, Anakin-"

She looked up, momentarily locking gazes with those bright blue eyes. His brow was furrowed, and his scrutinizing eyes were nearly slits. She steeled herself, and continued.

"But this isn't about you."

Anakin's mind was racing. _She called me ANAKIN!_ He thought. _Not "Master." She's really going through with this!_

"I can't stay here any longer," she added. "Not now!" Yet again, she glanced away from those questioning blue eyes. His arms uncrossed, falling to his sides again.

"The Jedi order is your life!" he reminded her, gesturing emphatically with his hands. "You can't just throw it away like this! Ahsoka, you are making a mistake!" He looked away, focusing on the ground. _This can't be happening, _he told himself. _No, this can't be happening. Please, no. It can't._

"Maybe," she responded coolly. Anakin looked back up towards her. "But I have to sort this out on my own. Without the council-" she turned away, unable to say it to his face- "and without you."

He turned around too. Providing she turned back to face him, he didn't want her to see how heartbroken he was. Holding back as many tears as possible, he weakly said, "I understand-more than you realize. I understand wanting to walk away from the order." He found himself staring at the finely polished marble that was supporting him.

"Like hell you don't!" Ahsoka spat, turning on Anakin. Despite her smaller stature, she grabbed his tunic above the shoulders and shook him forcefully. "You are the Chosen One! The golden boy! The perfect child! You are the one who was prophesied to bring balance of the force!"

She pushed him, hard, and he stumbled backward. He fell roughly on his behind. Anakin was even more shocked than he was before, and he didn't think that was possible. He had never seen her get this angry before. This was the one time-excluding Mortis-that he would ever be afraid of her.

"They don't care about me!" Ahsoka ranted, unfazed by the last ten seconds. "I'm just a lowly ex-Padawan, and now I'm gone forever! You'll still get your rank of Master, but it'll be like I never even existed!" As she said this, her words crescendoed from an angry accusation to full out screaming.

"I do too understand!" Anakin yelled back, with equal volume. He stood up, and looked at Ahsoka in the eye. "As far as I'm concerned, the Order is NOT the most important thing in my life!"

Ahsoka scoffed. "Like you'll ever be dedicated to anything outside of this wretched Temple."

He began gesturing with his hands again. "Clearly, you will never value a marriage as much as I do!"

"What did you say?" Obi-Wan asked incredulously, appearing from behind one of the monoliths.

In a mere millisecond, all of Anakin's anger, sadness, disbelief, and other emotions had disappeared. Only one thought remained:

_Oh. Shit._

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**-ClaptonJr.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_"What did you say?" Obi-Wan asked incredulously. _

_In a mere millisecond, all the anger, sadness, disbelief, and other emotions had disappeared._

_Only one thought permeated Anakin's mind:_

_Oh. Shit._

* * *

Obi-Wan strode forward until he was right next to Anakin and Ahsoka. Anakin tried to flash a measly smile, but the second he looked at Obi-Wan, it disappeared.

"You're married?!" Ahsoka screamed, painfully loudly.

"Anakin! What did you do?" Obi Wan questioned, sounding more like a prosecutor than a Jedi.

That was a fast few seconds in the life of Anakin Skywalker. He sprinted at least a kilometer, then started a verbal melee with one of his best friends he might never see again. A few seconds later, people knew of his marriage.

"Um-" he tried to don that weak, apologetic smile, but it didn't help.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Ahsoka fumed, again coming dangerously close to Anakin. He stepped back, right into Obi-Wan, who backed up and crossed his arms.

"Um…" Anakin rocked from one foot to the other. He knew, eventually he would have to tell them the truth, especially to the Master he had known for eleven years. And Ahsoka, too.

"You couldn't trust us enough to give us that information?" Ahsoka continued. "We have risked our lives dozens of times to save your sorry ass, and this is our payback? You can't tell the most important people in your lives-no wait, you're married, we got downgraded-but really? You're no better that the Council!" Anakin winced. He hurt her more than she thought.

"Padmé and I agreed to keep it a secret," he mumbled.

"You got married to _Senator Amidala?_" Obi-Wan cried. Ahsoka's expression instantly softened.

"You two are perfect for each other-I knew it! How long?"

This was Ahsoka, all right. "Just after Geonosis."

"GEONOSIS?" Obi-Wan cried.

Anakin and Ahsoka tried to quiet him.

"Anakin! This is a direct violation of the Jedi Code! Why have you broken the Code?"

Anakin sighed. Obi-Wan was too loyal to the Code, and thus avoided Siri until she was almost dead. Look where it got him. He winked at Ahsoka, and mustering all the courage he could, he turned around and glared down Obi-Wan.

"You hypocrite!" he began, taking the guise of "angry-padawan" like Ahsoka did. "If you actually had enough courage to live and love, you would be married to Siri and she would still be alive right now! You know what? Kriff the code!" Obi Wan and Ahsoka gasped.

"The code says '_There is no emotion, there is peace._' Well, after the Jedi have fought in a galactic war all these years, Padmé is the only way I'll ever find peace again! And 't_here is no ignorance, there is knowledge?_' Love has taught me knowledge you can experience only through true love! '_There is no passion, there is serenity?_" In our passion, there is serenity! It's called unconditional love! You wouldn't know anything about _that, _though, would you?

'_There is no chaos, there is harmony?_' Well, if people like you in the Order allowed this, there would be harmony! You have been one of the people causing this chaos in my life! And if '_there is no death, there is the Force_,' is accurate, the Force supersedes true death. You know what else does? Love. I would gladly die for those I love. That is how you and I differ!"

He turned away for a split second, to memorize the look on both faces. Ahsoka was shocked, but she still showed more happiness than she ever had.

Obi-Wan, on the other hand, left his jaw hanging open. He was incensed, seeing Anakin allude to Siri. Yes, he had been stupid, then, not loving her. Yes, he wished she was still alive. But were his fears totally unfounded? He felt Anakin, in his rant, coming closer towards the Dark Side.

Anakin scoffed, reading his old Master's thoughts. "Live love could turn me, or you, to the dark side! The fear, the clouded future you and the others see in me? My future is clouded because you _idiots_-"

Ahsoka gasped.

"-refuse to let me live my life! I don't want to hide from my marriage, as if it is a bad thing. We all know that is what the Council would think, Master. I want to tell everybody that I have a wife, and if that won't be accepted here, maybe _THAT_ would push me towards the Dark Side. I _am_ dangerous, and Padmé is the only balance left in my life."

"Anakin-"

"NO. YOU WILL LET ME FINISH." He enunciated every syllable, zealous at the thought of finally getting everything off his chest. "Love is supposed to embody the Light Side. Hate the Dark Side. Since Jedi can't be "vulnerable," we aren't supposed to feel emotion! Therefore, we don't have a side! Master Obi-Wan, we were employed in this war to slice battle droids in half. But are we actually any better than them? The only difference is that we are alive."

He started walking back towards the Temple. Ahsoka and Obi-Wan watched him leave.

But he turned around. He still had one more thing to say. "But with all these rules, maybe we aren't. By that logic, we are already dead." He smiled heartily, ecstatic about everything he had said.

"Goodbye, Snips. I admire you for what you are doing. Good luck, and may the force be with you."

With a small wave of goodbye, Anakin strode back into the Jedi Temple. Ahsoka went the opposite way, walking down the stairs and out of sight onto Processional way. Obi-Wan was left, alone, wondering what to do.

* * *

(About 30 minutes later)

Drained from the last hour with his pride shattered by his padawan, he didn't have much energy left. There was not much he could do. Sighing loudly, he wearily walked over to the left railing near the top of the staircase and leaned on it, slowly watching Ahsoka's figure become smaller and smaller.

The seconds gradually ticked by. At least a half hour had elapsed before Anakin came back.

"I admire her for what she did, do you realize that?" he said, appearing behind him. Obi Wan turned at the sound of his voice, but said nothing. He went back to watching Ahsoka.

"Look, Master, I'm sorry for what I said before."

Obi-Wan sighed again. "No, you aren't. You meant every word you said."

"Not _every_ word," Anakin countered.

"There might have been a time when I was as idealistic as you , Anakin," Obi-Wan acknowledged. "I just was less reckless, and I didn't want to defy thousands of years of tradition. I never saw defiance and love as positive things in my position."

Anakin leaned on the railing beside his friend. "You're what, 37? 38? When are you actually going to start living?"

"The Jedi Order is my life, Anakin. I could never leave it, like Ahsoka did, or like you could. Outside of missions, I have rarely done anything outside of Temple grounds. Not since you started running so many errands three years ago…" Obi-Wan looked at him suspiciously, "right after you married Padmé."

Anakin smiled widely. "Most of the errands were for her. And I got some _pretty good payment._

"So during most of your 'errands', you were actually 'running' with Senator Amidala?"

Anakin looked away, but was still smiling.

Obi-Wan looked thoughtful. "Now it all makes sense. You would always leave at 1800 and come back with very little food the next day." He paused, smirking. "And you would always say the stores never really had anything good."

Anakin shared in the smile. "Yeah, for a Senator, she has a surprisingly small refrigerator."

**REVIEW! Thanks in advance for your thoughts.**

**-ClaptonJr.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Anakin was surprised. Obi-Wan was taking this far better than he had expected.

"You seem happier than usual, like a great weight was lifted off your shoulders," Obi-Wan noticed. "The fear clouding your future has all but disappeared."

"I know, Master-"

"I am no longer your Master," Obi-Wan reminded him.

"I know," Anakin muttered. "Old habits die hard."

Obi-Wan studied the expression on Anakin's face. "Were you really that scared of telling me, Anakin?" he asked. "I trusted you with my life. I wouldn't betray you like that."

"I know, Obi-Wan. But if I began explaining I would have dug the metaphorical hole deeper and deeper."

"Anakin. Your fear, the dark side's roots within you, has gone. All because you told me. That implies, in some sense, that you were afraid of me or the Jedi High Council itself."

Anakin stared at him. "_Me? _Afraid of _you?_"

"Don't play dumb, Anakin. You couldn't trust me, so you hid your marriage. Am I that untrustworthy?"

Anakin stared at his feet. "No, but I promised Padmé I wouldn't tell. Do you realize what would happen if this got out?" he growled, angry again. Obi-Wan felt the Dark Side unfurl itself slightly within his old Padawan.

"Yes, and that is why I will help you."

Anakin looked up, shock evident in his features.

"I may be an 'old man' to you, but I remember my feelings of love. I would never forgive myself if I told them." Anakin smiled.

"But-" his smile disappeared- "Anakin, I promise that I will not reveal your marriage to the council, but in the same way, I will not overtly help your charade. If you get caught, no bureaucratic acts of kindness are coming from me."

That was all Anakin needed. He shook Obi-Wan's hand wildly, grinning from ear to ear. "Thank you, Master. I promise, you won't regret this!" Anakin let out a short whoop of celebration, and belted away towards the Temple Entrance.

Obi-Wan walked back onto the rail again, watching Ahsoka leave for the last time. He squinted, and could barely make out the fact that she had turned around, and was looking back at him.

Her voice flashed through his head. _Thank you for doing that, Master Kenobi. That was probably the nicest gift anyone has given Anakin. _

Obi-Wan realized, through the force, she had overheard their conversation, plus the joy radiating off of her former Master.

_Take care of Anakin for me,_ she continued._ Make sure Ventress doesn't hurt him,_ and m_ay the force be with you. _

Ahsoka Tano waved one arm wildly above her head in a gesture of goodbye. Then she calmly walked off of the Temple property onto one of the outgoing pedestrian causeways.

_Anakin was right_, Obi-Wan thought, watching Ahsoka merge into large mass of pedestrians moving from left to right.

_She made the correct choice_.

* * *

Anakin stopped inside the main hall of the Temple, thinking about Ahsoka. She_ was almost a Jedi Knight. She would be able to handle living on the streets, right_?

He continued walking toward his quarters.

_Who am I kidding?_ Anakin asked himself. _She's just seventeen!_

With that thought echoing in his mind, he ran towards the Jedi Main Hangar.

Ahsoka felt an unnatural gust of wind coming from behind her she turned just in time to see a yellow convertible airspeeder almost knock her head off.

"What in Sith hell?" she asked, as the speeder slowly sunk to ground level. As the speeder lowered, she saw Anakin sitting in the pilot's seat.

"Skyguy?" she asked, slightly confused.

The pedestrian mass moved away from the landing speeder, giving them a small elliptical of open space.

_I thought you might need a place to stay,_ Anakin silently informed through the Force. _I could probably get Padmé to let you borrow the guest room for a while._

_Anakin, I'll be fine on my own, _she telepathically replied.

_Please? _Anakin asked wordlessly. He tried to replicate a puppy-eyes face, and failed miserably in his attempt. Ahsoka smirked.

"Anakin Skywalker?!" screamed a shrill female voice nearby.

"There he is!" said someone else.

"It's him! It's really him!" yelled a third. The crowd turned, looking at the Jedi and his speeder in admiration.

The expression on his face instantly reverted from one of sadness to a pleading one. "Ahsoka, please, before I get attacked by groupies!" he begged, aloud this time.

She walked around to the right door of his speeder, making a point of walking extremely slowly.

Just then, three teenage girls split from the wall of people, and after a moment's pause, ran at him. Anakin panicked, and lifted the speeder about five meters off the ground. Ahsoka had just grabbed the door handle, and was thus lifted into the air.

One of the girls, a blonde who appeared no older than sixteen, jumped and grabbed Ahsoka's heel. She growled in annoyance as the girl slowly climbed higher, using the Togruta as a kind of ladder. Ahsoka repeatedly tried to shake her off, but the girl tightened her grasp and kept climbing.

Anakin set the speeder in a hovering configuration, and shifted across the side of the speeder to the passenger side. There was no center arm rest blocking his movement, so he could move freely. He looked down over the side of the speeder with interest as the girl had reached up with her arms locked around Ahsoka's hips.

"Skyguy-" his old Padawan began, looking up at him and grimacing in pain.

"Master Skywalker!" began the girl. She smiled seductively. "Please take me home with you! Then, maybe I'll polish your lightsaber!" She added a wink for good measure.

Anakin sighed, moving his head out of view and contemplating his options. Soon the girl would make it up into the speeder if he didn't do anything, but he couldn't hurt the girl _or _Ahsoka. After a few moments of deliberation, he came up with an idea.

He leaned over the door again. "Sometime, maybe I'll take you up on that offer-"

"WHAT?" Ahsoka cried.

"-but first , let me tell you a joke."

"Okay!"the girl replied enthusiastically (and unintelligently, Ahsoka noted). She looked at Anakin quizzically. She could sense a plan, but didn't know what it would entail.

"Two young women fall from a speeder," Anakin began. "One is a Togruta. The other is a blond human. Who hits the ground first?"

The girl was obviously not among the most intelligent on Coruscant, because she paused, hanging there thinking. "I don't know?" she eventually responded, still suspended in midair.

Ahsoka knew what he was doing. She prepared herself for the drop.

"The Togruta," Anakin told them, wearing that trademark smirk of his. "The blond girl had to stop and ask for directions on the way down."

"That's a good-" the girl began, and Anakin flicked his wrist. Ahsoka was force-pushed off of the speeder, and both she and the girl began falling. The human screamed and landed on her friends, knocking all three to the ground. Ahsoka, meanwhile, gracefully spun away into a double-backflip. She landed adeptly on bent legs, touching the duracrete pavement with her free right hand. Then using the force, she jumped back into the speeder.

Anakin had shifted back across, so she landed on his right just as he began to fly forward. He turned the speeder around, so the crowd was on his left.

"For the record," Anakin Skywalker yelled down to the girls, "I polish my own lightsaber. By myself."

Ahsoka snorted, trying to muffle her laugher as she listed alternate interpretations of what he said. Those girls, like many others, would probably take his words in a very different way.

Anakin looked at her with a raised eyebrow, trying to figure out what was going on. He had completely missed the girl's blatant innuendo.

He gasped when he realized what he had said.

"No no no no NO. I didn't mean it like that!" he yelled to the snickering crowd below. "Jedi don't do …that… because-well, Jedi don't *do* that…"

Nothing he could say would erase what he said. Sighing, he looked disdainfully at the dozens of people below laughing at him. At least, nothing _conventional._

A flick of the wrist and a series of mind wipes later, nobody down on the street could remember why they were laughing.

* * *

Anakin flew the speeder towards 500 Republica. He focused straight ahead, trying to forget the last embarrassing few minutes. He was probably as red in the face as Ahsoka.

And no, this time it was not because of windburn.

**Ha ha. Well, I thought I'd put in some more Ahsoka this time.**

**And thanks for all the reviews! **

**But keep typing them. A pleased writer is not a reason to avoid taking thirty seconds out of your day to type out a few of your thoughts/opinions.**

**-ClaptonJr.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey there readers! The amount of reviews has skyrocketed since the last update, and I would like to thank everybody who has contributed to that. But keep at it! Your opinions are always appreciated.**

**I am drawing on Empire Strikes Back as inspiration a little bit for this story. It is probably the darkest movie in the original trilogy, but between the drama, there's all this fluff and nice banter going on. I am trying to replicate that here.**

**Yes, soon I will get to the plot. But I figured first I'd write a funny Anidala-oriented fluffish chapter for you.**

Chapter 4

"Not a word," ordered Anakin, as he held open the door to his wife's apartment for Ahsoka.

"About what?" Ahsoka asked, even though she knew he was referring to the "lightsaber polishing" incident. He calmly walked across the threshold and observing her surroundings.

"Hello, Anakin, Ahsoka," Padmé greeted, leisurely brushing her hair as she walked out of her bedroom. "Why are you here?" she asked, now standing next to her husband and his friend.

Anakin put one arm around his wife, pulling her gently to his side and kissing her forehead. Padmé, in turn, squirmed in his grasp, and looked up at Anakin in shock.

He sent out a calming wave through the force. "It's okay. She knows about us, Padmé. We don't have to hide it from her anymore."

"Obi-Wan knows too," Ahsoka told her. Padmé looked up, and began kissing her husband excitedly. "This is great!" she told him. "We won't have to hide it as much anymore!" They continued their PDA, seemingly unaware that Ahsoka was less than ten feet away watching them intently.

Ahsoka smirked. "With all due respect, Senator _Skywalker_,-" she put special emphasis on Padmé's married name- "you must be bipolar, since it seems highly illogical that you would try to escape from a mere peck and then attack him with your mouth."

Padmé blushed and pulled away from Anakin. She was flustered, due to both being announced as Skywalker and because of the fact Ahsoka and Obi-Wan both knew what was up. Anakin, sensing her discomfort, hurriedly changed the subject.

"Padmé, I was wondering if you could let Ahsoka stay with us here for a while."

The Senator blinked, confused. "She was deemed innocent by the Council. Wasn't she welcomed back into the order?"

"I walked out," Ahsoka stated bluntly.

"How long have I slept, with all of this going on?" Padmé asked, with mock-anxiety. "Has the war ended too?"

Anakin smirked, but he could tell that she soon pieced together the day's events. Ahsoka didn't want to have to face any Jedi for a long time after her near-unanimous betrayal, and somehow, the occurrence blew their marriage's cover.

"So can she stay in the guest room?" Anakin asked, cutting to the chase.

"I suppose so," Padmé agreed. Master and Padawan exchanged a small high-five.

"But, Anakin, wouldn't we have to move your desk out of there with all the polishing equipment for you lightsaber?"

Anakin froze, while Ahsoka turned to Padmé. "What do you mean, Padmé, all of his lightsaber polishing equipment?" she asked, chuckling quietly.

"Well, he has this desk filled with all kinds of polishes and buffers, and a bunch of fine-stitched rubbing cloths. He even has this stand for it. He can set it down as he works on it."

Anakin glared at Ahsoka, who was trying to contain her laughter.

"He spends at least an hour a week in there, polishing it over and over again. He makes a big deal out of it, too. Nobody is allowed to bother him while he polishes his lightsaber."

Ahsoka snorted.

"To abide by his standards, it has to have high luster and reflectivity... am I missing something?!"

Ahsoka's face was highly contorted, failing in her effort not to laugh. Padmé studied her reaction carefully, and then turned to her husband. He was unable to return her gaze for a few seconds, but when he did, she could see the embarrassment and defeat in his eyes. He then glanced up at the ceiling, reinforcing his mental shields and locking down his emotions.

In response to here wordless question, Anakin shook his head slowly, sending the message so she, a non-Force sensitive, could understand.

Padmé's eyes narrowed. Her Ani had some explaining to do.

* * *

Even the resident politician had trouble keeping her emotions in check over dinner that evening. She and Ahsoka laughed heartily again and again as Ahsoka retold the speeder incident. Anakin, however, was thoroughly embarrassed, and his face was as red as the wine Dormé had poured for dinner that evening.

He repeatedly tried every Jedi calming and meditation exercise he knew. It was all he could do to keep himself from jumping through the large glass wall overlooking the Senate District.

"And he says, 'The Togruta! The blonde had to stop for directions on the way down.'"

The shrill cries of amusement slowly undermined his attempt at relaxation. Defeated, he listened in on their conversation.

Padmé was laughing whole-heartedly, unlike anything she would do in public. Anakin smiled, looking at the true Padmé, the one he fell in love with. Her politician alter-ego was not even comparable to her real self.

"Ani, you need to watch what you say about yourself!" she chided, bearing the effects of her fourth glass of wine. "You're a blond too, don't forget that."

"Hey," he defended. "It's more of a brown these days. The twin suns of Tatooine bleach everything."

"Quite the stereotype blond response, wouldn't you say?" Ahsoka laughed, and she and Padmé descended into a fit of giggles.

Anakin frowned, making the educated guess that Ahsoka was just as drunk as Padmé.

He sighed. Ahsoka was seventeen, and the alcohol laws on Coruscant were rather lax. Legally, she was able to consume plenty of alcohol. But both she and Padmé had probably had enough, he decided. Using the force, he lifted both the bottle of Alderaanian wine and the two half-filled glasses to the ceiling and held them there.

"Ani, put them back," Padmé ordered, with a slight slur accompanying her command. It only made Anakin more resolute in his choice.

"Skyguy, (hic) put 'em down," Ahsoka threatened, "or I'll tell her what you said the crowds!"

It was a hard choice, but Anakin slowly brought the wine towards him. With lightning-fast reflexes, he grabbed all of the alcohol in his arms and rushed it into his and Padmé's bedroom. As an afterthought, he locked the door.

He couldn't fully understand what Padmé and Ahsoka were saying through the door, but he could easily make out the series of muffled laughs from both women.

"Everyone knows I'm the only girl who gets to polish his lightsaber!" the tipsy Senator announced.

"Sorry, Padmé, but according to him, he's the only one who can do it right."

Anakin winced, while their giggles echoed through the apartment.

"You know," Padmé began, "if you want more alcohol, he has a personal jug of Jawa Juice in the refrigerator."

_Oh no, _Anakin thought. They got up, and he could hear the chars fall backward onto the floor. Clearly they were too drunk to do anything right. Then, he heard the fridge opening.

He tried to think of a method to prevent this whole situation, but no good ones came to mind. With few options, he opened the door, ran out, wrenched the carton of alcohol from Padmé's hands, and jumped back into the bedroom. After a few seconds of drunken confusion, the inebriated females tried to enter the room. But Anakin kept a force hold on the door, and had inadvertently barricaded himself in for the night.

_I guess this is the standard punishment for having two women in my life as a Jedi_, he thought icily.

**A/N:**

**It must be, Anakin. The Force has finally caught up with you.**

**Gee, now I sound like Obi-Wan. **

**Review please!**

**-ClaptonJr.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

When Anakin woke up, his hair was drenched. He looked around, confused, as the events of the last night came back to him. He grabbed for his pillow, but instead came up with an empty, cap-less carton of Jawa Juice.

He scowled, realizing both his hair and Padmé's bed was both soaked in alcohol.

Mumbling to himself, he groggily reached for a clean tunic and put it on. Mopping up the alcohol as best he could with his tunic, he headed into the shower. He turned the water on, and stepped in. The cold water beat down on his shoulders, and he found it very relaxing. He leaned against the wall as the water began to heat up…

Padmé screamed from the next room. _Relaxing shower indeed, _Anakin thought.

"What did you do to my bed?" she screeched.

"The Jawa Juice I took from you got spilled," Anakin yelled back through the door.

"How did it get spilled?" Padmé yelled.

"I don't know!" Anakin answered. "The carton must have broken while I was sleeping."

"But my bedsheets! They were made from specially imported Lashaa silk!"

"Then maybe you and Ahsoka shouldn't have drunk so much wine!"

Padmé gasped through the door. "I drank the Alderaanian wine?! I was saving that for Breha's lifeday!"

Anakin sighed, and turned off the water. He could never seem to get his much-needed peace and quiet. He stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist.

Padmé was sulking in her desk chair and Ahsoka was still asleep. Alcohol, in Togrutas, tends to keep you asleep for longer. As much of her nervous system was based in her lekku, the alcohol was already diluted in her bloodstream before it was carried into her lekku. Thus, for her, wine was like a sedative.

Anakin exited the bedroom after a chaste kiss on Padmé's cheek and a muted apology, and walked past her sleeping form to the room's comlink. He called Dormé and requested her presence, then went back into Padmé's walk-in closet to retrieve a set of his Jedi robes.

The trip to the Jedi Temple was rather uneventful. Nobody offered to polish his lightsaber this time.

He mentally scolded himself, and decided to keep a lower profile outside of the Temple from now on. He didn't want any more "incidents."

His comlink began buzzing. He picked it up and held it to his mouth.

"Skywalker here!" he yelled into the comlink.

"Hello Anakin!" Obi-Wan greeted into the comlink in his usual cropped Coruscanti accent.

"Hi, Obi-Wan!" he exclaimed, raising his voice above the wind.

"Anakin, the council requests your presence at the Council meeting."

His mind raced. "Is this about Padmé?" He yelled into the phone.

"No," Obi-Wan told him. "It's about Ahsoka."

"Okay!" Anakin said, and turned off his comlink.

The peaceful dawn sky above Coruscant was not yet split by speeders. Getting up early, before the chaos of the daytime commuters, you could catch a few minutes of relative peace. The Temple Hangar was quiet, too. Anakin landed his speeder, and walked into the seemingly abandoned open space. His speeder was the only one there.

He walked into the maze of hallways, making his way to the main repulsorlifts.

"Anakin!" greeted Obi-Wan, standing in the Great Hall.

"Hi, master," Anakin said weakly, still not fully awake.

Obi-Wan sniffed the air. "Anakin, have you been drinking?"

"No, but I spilled an entire container of Jawa Juice on my head."

The older Jedi chose not to ask. With his Padawan, some things were better left unsaid.

* * *

"Odd, this is," in his backward speech, said Yoda.** (A/N: Ha ha.)**

Mace Windu leaned back in his seat. "The presence of the Dark Side has lessened in young Skywalker."

"This is intriguing," Ki-Al-Mundi thought aloud. "Fear and danger have been his constant companions since his Initiation. We all know this."

"Why has it disappeared so suddenly?" Shaak Ti, who was sitting in for Plo Koon, asked. Nobody knew the answer.

The High Council pondered the answer for a few moments.

"Do you believe that the Dark Side could have embedded itself in Padawan Tano, and has thus clouded Anakin's future?" Mace asked.

"Something probably happened there that we don't know about," Ki-Al-Mundi informed.

"They might not even fully understand what has occurred there," Mace pointed out. "The Son and Daughter were able to alter memories. Skywalker and Tano could been altered in terms of their perceptions."

Yoda watched the exchange, frowning. "Fully able in the force, Knight Skywalker is," he announced skeptically. "Rivals the Son and Daughter, his abilities do."

"With all due respect, Grand Master Yoda, that's irrelevant," Ki-Al-Mundi stated wisely. The Council turned to look at him. "I don't see how that would prevent the perils of the Dark Side. If his powers are that attuned, isn't he left m_ore_ vulnerable?"

"Right you are," Yoda conceded. "Shall we, the threat identify?"

"If you believe that Padawan Tano is the cause of this Dark Side disturbance," Shaak Ti countered, "which it seems you do, that does not explain why she was not involved in the bombing."

"Counter-intuition is a practiced Sith defense," Master Windu said.

"This is why Ahsoka left the Order!" Shaak Ti fumed. "This is why she refused her Knighthood! We betrayed her, didn't defend her, practically left her for dead by the Senate, and when she is ostensibly innocent, you still declare her a traitor?"

"That is not the point," Saesee Tiin disagreed. "We had every right to believe she was guilty. The Force gave us no indication."

"If Ahsoka turned Dark, why would she damper the Force enough to make herself worthy of a death sentence? Only a Sith Lord would dare to do that, but even they would not want to so blatantly risk their necks."

"She has a point there," Ki-Al-Mundi declared. There were a few odd moments of silence.

"Meditate on this, we must," Yoda ordered, putting an end to the discussion.

Still in the turbolift with Obi-Wan, Anakin could pick up snippets of their debate through the Force. _They're as bad as the Senate, he thought wearily. They never can come to a wise decision._

**Sorry for the short chapter. I have been working on a 2000+ word chapter to follow up this one. Expect an upload by August 11****th****.**

**Please put forward any ideas you have. Thanks to ****SaintOfAllSaints01**** who has given me two plot bunnies to work into this story, involving some Anidala and a subplot involving Rex and Fives. I will make sure those plot bunnies soon start breeding… Ha.**

**As always, REVIEW!**

**-ClaptonJr.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

**(This is really a continuation of the last chapter, so, it picks up right where it left off.)**

The turbolift music grated on Anakin's nerves.

"Anakin?" Obi-Wan asked, eyes closed, in a state of near-meditation.

"Yes Master?"

"I don't like the music either. Calm down."

Anakin smirked at Obi-Wan being-well, Obi-Wan, and closed his own eyes attempting to replicate his friend's relaxed state. It didn't work.

"Obi-Wan?"

"Yes, Anakin?"

"Hold your ears," he commanded. The wall's speaker collapsed with the force, and it let out a small bang and a series of pops. Then, the music stopped.

Obi-Wan looked at his old padawan curiously.

"It was time to face the music," Anakin quipped.

"Don't do that, Anakin," Obi-Wan chided. "When it comes to your antics, _the music has got to change_."

"Pun intended?"

"You betcha."

The rest of the ride was silent, for the most part. Halfway up, Anakin started humming an old song his mother used to sing to him as a child. He didn't remember the words, but he remembered how it went. But even though he was a Jedi, the Force didn't help musically. After the first few notes, Obi-Wan was looking at him oddly.

"What?" Anakin asked innocently.

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. "You break the lift speaker so you can sing off key?"

Anakin frowned. "I wasn't off key, and I was just humming."

"Uh huh, _SURE,_" Obi-Wan deadpanned. "You're right though, at least you aren't singing."

_I'm sure he'd rather me sing than for me to __polish my lightsaber_, Anakin thought, snickering lightly.

"What?" Obi-Wan asked, clueless.

"Nothing," Anakin replied, a bit too quickly. He looked at the floor.

Luckily for Anakin, the door opened and they were no longer stuck in the turbolift. They walked the short distance to the council room, and the doors opened automatically.

"Greetings, young Skywalker," Yoda greeted.

Anakin's annoyance spiked at the somewhat degrading introduction of "_Young _Skywalker."

_He's just jealous, _Obi-Wan commented telepathically, sitting down in his seat on the Council. Anakin ignored him, and looked at the council.

"Regarding Ahsoka," Shaak Ti began. "You have changed since she left. Why is that so?"

"I guess you could say that it suddenly put a lot of things into perspective," Anakin replied cryptically. It was true, from a certain point of view.

"What sort of things?" Mace Windu prompted.

"Uh…" Anakin began, unable to respond without giving away anything.

_Take your time, _Obi-Wan silently advised. "Do you mean, like the amount of aftershave you wear?" he asked rhetorically, buying Anakin some time. Obi-Wan winked.

"Well, no on the aftershave," Anakin retorted, buying himself more time. His mind chewed furiously on how to word his response. "I just admire what she did, how she was able to prioritize and keep everything in proportion. When it was too much for her, she recognized that and did what she felt was right."

"Relevant, how is this?" Yoda asked. "Hrm?"

"With all due respect, Masters, you were far worse than Ahsoka. You betrayed her, turned her in, and were so pre-biased that the Force would not help you decide. She had every right to be disenchanted with the Order, and I am proud of her for that. I guess, I am just as angry as her, but less willing to walk away."

"Walk away from the Order, you would?!" Yoda asked, shock radiating off of him through the Force.

"If I was put in the same situation as her, I honestly might," Anakin stated.

"She was only a Padawan," Mace Windu reasoned.

Anakin hardened his resolve. "This is exactly why she left. She possessed as much force aptitude as all of you, but because she is still young, she was of less value to you."

"You know that isn't the reason," Ki-Al-Mundi informed.

"Really? She could have been a Grand Master, at the rate she has learned!"

"Anakin, you have become far too attached to your Padawan," Master Mundi continued.

"You were the ones who assigned her to me in the first place," Anakin countered. "If we aren't even allowed to even forge friendships, how has the Order survived? Wouldn't it dissolve if that rule was actually enforced?"

"No," Shaak Ti reasoned. "Attachments can get in the way of duty."

"Can any of you actually hear what you are saying?" Anakin fumed.

"The path to the Dark Side, anger is," Yoda chided.

"Hate is not the opposite of love," Anakin philosophized. "Indifference is."

Shaak Ti remained still, bathing herself in calm. "Knight Skywalker," she said, "You are dismissed."

Anakin bowed curtly, and strode out of the room. Obi-Wan just sat still in his seat, in silent amazement at his Padawan's defiant stance. He wasn't sure what amazed him more, his truthful point or his rebellious attitude. It was probably because he was correct, and was so confident that he stood up to the Council.

"Master Kenobi, what are your thoughts?" Shaak Ti asked, pulling him out of his daze.

He looked back at her strangely. "You know what? He was right," Obi-Wan answered. "He was right about everything." He rose from his seat walked out after his friend.

* * *

Meanwhile, near the base of the turbolift, Anakin was halfway through an impromptu victory dance. He didn't notice that six younglings were watching him. Right now, he felt free.

Obi-Wan walked out of the lift, and tried not to laugh at the small group of younglings seated in a small circle around him.

_I see why Padmé married you, _Obi-Wan remarked through the Force. Anakin, too "busy" to notice anyone around him, nearly fell over in surprise. The youngling sitting where he fell barely got out of the way.

Obi-Wan smirked as Anakin clumsily stood up, dusting off his robes. He reddened as he noticed the small group of younglings watching intently with curious eyes. He waved his hand, and mind-wiped them.

"How did we get here?" A blond boy asked. Nobody (his age) knew the answer.

"I don't know," replied one of the girls.

"We should probably get back to our studies," one of the younglings pointed out. They left, wondering how they got to the lift.

"Anakin, you aren't supposed to use mind-wipes on children," Obi-Wan recited.

"Whatever," Anakin snapped. "Let's go for a drink."

"We should really stay and attend to our duties at the Temple," Obi-Wan pointed out.

"I think," Anakin countered, "We are able to give ourselves the day off. Don't you agree?"

Obi-Wan sighed. "Just this once, Anakin." They proceeded towards the entrance. Obi-Wan sighed, knowing exactly what the blond man was doing. Anakin would use the "just this once" trick on him many more times.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, they were camped out inside a medium-level Coruscant bar. Anakin decided to start off with a Jawa Juice, and Obi-Wan ordered the same thing.

Soon after, Anakin was done with his third while Obi-Wan was still eyeing his shot curiously.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Obi-Wan asked for the umpteenth time.

"It's just Jawa Juice," Anakin replied, slightly tipsy.

"But we're in the middle levels. Drinks aren't regulated down here."

Anakin emptied his glass again, and two clones walked through the door.

"Hey, isn't that Rex and Fives?" Anakin asked, slurring his words slightly.

"I think so," Obi-Wan observed. "They look different without their armor." Anakin flagged them down, waving his arms wildly. As they had never heard of Jedi in bars, nobody other than the clones recognized him.

"What are you doing here?" Obi-Wan inquired.

"Just coming for a drink, like you," Rex replied. "Echo was gonna come, but he didn't."

"Mmh," Anakin mumbled, filling another glass, which Rex promptly took.

"Hey!" he said. "I was gonna drink that!"

"Anakin, you've had far too much already," Obi-Wan announced.

"I can handle more than them," he retorted angrily. They're what, four years old?"

"Physically, we're older than you," Fives stated, still waiting on his own glass.

Anakin snorted in derision, and waited for the service droid to come back with more alcohol.

"So, why are we celebrating?" Rex asked. "You only drink if you won a battle."

"He stood up to the council about his Padawan," Obi-Wan said.

"Good for you," Rex exclaimed, slapping his commanding officer on the back, inadvertently causing him to spit up some of his drink.

"His wife is probably really proud of him," Obo-Wan said, not thinking. Anakin discreetly kicked him in the shin. But the damage was done.

"General, you're married?" Fives asked in disbelief.

"Uh huh," Anakin affirmed weakly.

"To who?"

"Senator Amidala," Obi-Wan told them, receiving another kick in the shin from his old Padawan. He grimaced, and looked back at his Padawan indignantly.

"I told you!" Fives shouted triumphantly. "I told you, Rex, I knew it! Pay up!"

Rex tossed a 100-credit bill at Fives, and strode out of the bar.

"We had a bet," Fives explained, pocketing the money. "Don't worry, we won't tell anybody. But if you'll excuse me, I have to go find my Captain." He winked at Anakin, and then stood up and jogged out of the bar.

"The Kaminoans shouldn't have made the clones able to bet on their Generals," Anakin huffed. Obi-Wan just looked at him, amused.

They sat in silence for the next few minutes. Then Obi-Wan noticed something. His eyes went wide.

_Uh oh_, he sent telepathically.

"What?" Anakin asked. Obi-Wan gestured to the far corner, where two humans in black cloaks stood up and began walking towards the bar.

"Dark Acolytes," he said aloud. Anakin sputtered, half because of shock, and half because of the fourth glass of alcohol he started sipping.

"Leave," ordered the young general. "Rex and Fives, get out. _Now_." Anakin didn't want them around, because they would die since they didn't have their blasters. They hesitantly did so, and Anakin reached down at his belt for his lightsaber. He and Obi-Wan both gasped when they realized his wasn't there.

_Stang, I left it at Padmé's_, Anakin thought miserably. And, thinking they were going to an upper-city bar, Obi-Wan left his at the Temple.

They both exchanged guilty looks at the other, as Dooku's goons came ever closer.

A lightsaber ignited, and was thrown towards them. Anakin pushed it to the side, accidentally giving a nearby woman with black hair a really bad haircut. The hilt landed behind the bar.

"AAHHH!" she screamed, grabbing the singed ends of her hair. Anakin estimated that his accident only took off two inches. She would be fine.

Infuriated, she threw her empty glass through the air at the Acolytes. The Acolyte on Anakin's right blocked it in midair with his lightsaber, and the now-superheated glass shattered. Some of the shrapnel landed on and around a table to his left, occupied by a red-haired teenage girl. Some of the shards landed in her hair, while one burnt through a strap on the shirt she was wearing.

"What in Sith hell, dickhead?" she screeched, throwing her fist at the intended target's head. He collapsed onto another table and landed in the drinks, spilling them all over the patrons. One of the now-soaked occupants knocked him out, and pushed him off the table. The other Dark Acolyte slashed at the offender, nearly cutting off his hand and destroying the table in the process.

His best friend, sitting next to him, stood up and drew a knife. He threw it at the Acolyte, but missed, hitting someone across the room in the shoulder.

A girl from that table stood up. "That was my boyfriend, you idiot!" She picked up a wine bottle and heaved it. It missed yet again, and slammed the Acolyte in the back.

Meanwhile, the knife-thrower and the victim's girlfriend were, unknown by the Jedi, members of rival gangs. Two lines of people stood up on both sides of the bar, and ran at each other holding whatever weapons they could find. A heated bar fight broke out, embroiling over three-quarters of the people gathered.

"This sure wasn't the intended result," Obi-Wan commented. A group of people from the other end of the room rushed past, bringing the fight closer. The room descended into crowded chaos, with people running for the exits as fast as their legs would carry them.

A stray punch hit Obi-Wan in the nose. He fell back onto the bar, clutching his nose while trying to sit up. Anakin, enraged, jumped at the guilty person and dislocated his jaw with a powerful punch.

His friend kicked Anakin's knee, pushing him down onto the floor. In response, Anakin set off a force-blast, throwing them both into the wall. They sat there, dazed, as Anakin incapacitated their friends nearby. Most fell easily, at the cost of a knife-slice on Anakin's right forearm.

In the midst of the chaos, the Dark Acolyte had progressed over to Anakin's vicinity. Anticipating a strike, the young Jedi flipped back in front of him and grabbed the lightsaber with his left hand. They both held on tightly as they struggled with their free hands. Using the force, Anakin launched the red lightsaber into the air. It fell into his opened palm, and he sliced the assailant in half. Feeling both thugs' force signatures disappear, he pulled Obi-Wan towards the door.

"Ah!" Obi-Wan cried, colliding face-first with doorframe, smashing his nose again. They slipped outside, and dashed away as quickly as possible. They ran to their speeder, as the older Jedi's nose began to bleed profusely. The last thing they heard from the bar was a half-crazed scream:

"All right, Greene, now you're gonna _die_!"

* * *

Anakin nonchalantly sipped a cup of caf as Padmé tended to his wounds.

"Ahh," he moaned as she dabbed a cut with disinfectant. "Ouch… Stop…"

"If you hadn't started that fight, you wouldn't have to deal with this," Padmé asserted sweetly.

"Wrong," Anakin stubbornly replied. "If I hadn't got hurt-"

Padmé smiled inwardly. "Just please don't start another bar fight. For me?" She used the puppy-eyed expression her husband consistently failed at, and he sighed in compliance.

"I can just see the headline," Ahsoka laughed, picking up a datapad and pretending to read it. "'Jedi Master Affronted by Wife and Submits'."

Obi-Wan smirked, holding an ice pack to the side of his nose.

Anakin frowned. "They didn't make me a Master, Snips."

"I can see it again: 'Jedi Knight submits to Senator.' Now, that one's more believable."

Anakin sighed, and Padmé kept about her business.

**All righty! That was a LLLLLLLOOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGG chapter. You saw Rex and Fives find out. And we all know, for Jedi, clones' minds are easy to read (Most of the time, anyway… D: )**

**Thanks again to ****SaintOfAllSaints01**** for the idea about Rex and Fives. I owe that and the approaching plot arc of the next chapter to one of his/her suggestions.**

**Major things coming next chapter, so stay tuned. And don't forget to review!**

**Thanks.**

**-ClaptonJr.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

**(People, I just didn't have the heart to kill Echo. Please understand.)**

Anakin sat at his desk, putting away his polishing equipment. He still had a hard time believing Echo survived.

_"Of course he survived," Obi-Wan told him, soon after taking off in the speeder. _

_"Why didn't you tell me?" Anakin asked._

_"We all thought you knew! One of the other companies found him. Hurt, had to get amputations, but he made it."_

Anakin, as soon after Padmé was finished with her awful peroxide, logged into the Republic Military Database. Sure enough, the status on trooper CT-21-0408 was listed as injured in action, transferred to 3rd Reserve Squadron.

He whistled through his teeth. He thought _he _had survived some close calls.

"Hi," Padmé greeted, walking into the room. He looked up, but continued working.

"Hello, Padmé," he said wearily. She sat down on the bed.

"Putting away your lightsaber polishing equipment, I see?" she tried, barely smiling. Anakin shook his head.

"Please, not from my own wife," he grumbled, closing a drawer in the desk he was sitting at.

"I just wanted to talk about the status of… our secret," she began. Mildly interested, he spun around in the chair to face her.

"Not much to tell," he replied. "Obi-Wan knows, as does Ahsoka. Plus Rex and Fives."

Her mouth dropped open. "Why do the clones know, Anakin?"

He sighed. "Obi-Wan…"

"Obi-Wan told them?" Padmé fumed, standing up from the bed.

"It's fine, Padmé. No one else knows."

"Yeah? That's what you said after Geonosis!"

"No one knew then!"

Padme sighed. "What I'm trying to say is, we are going to have to be much more careful. With this, and how we manage it, I mean."

Anakin looked her in the eye. "Are you scared that we're going to get found out?"

"Does it show? Anakin, we can't let anyone else learn about us!"

"You don't understand! I want to be able to tell the entire galaxy that I'm married to you! What's wrong with that?"

"What about the Order, your Mastery?"

"Just tell me to walk out, Padme, and I will. The entire Order is insignificant compared to you."

"Hey!" Ahsoka and Obi-Wan grumbled indignantly, now listening with their ears pressed onto the door.

"You can't leave the Order because of me," Padmé reasoned. "It's too important for you."

"I can and I will. I am getting sick of running around like this, hiding our love like it's an evil thing. Tell me to drop everything, to leave the Order and focus on us. Just tell me to, and I will."

She looked up at Anakin, unsure of what to say.

"See?" he continued, undaunted. "You can't. You'll never be able to. You have been taught since your childhood to serve your people, to the point where you can't even think of yourself anymore."

"That is not true!" she shot back.

"Is it? Remember, you didn't tell me you loved me until you were nearly positive that we were both going to die on Geonosis?"

"That isn't relevant! It just…took me a while."

"It took me a while too, Angel. But it was the best thing that ever happened to me." Anakin pulled her into a hug, and whispered in her ear. "I love you so much, Padmé. Why can't the entire galaxy know?"

"Awww," Ahsoka exclaimed, loud enough for the couple inside to hear. Smirking, Anakin threw open the door with the force, and Ahsoka fell forward on her face. A second later, Obi-Wan, also listening, fell on top of her.

Anakin frowned. Some people would never change.

* * *

Rex and Fives entered to the Republic Military Base on Coruscant.

"Can you believe that General Skywalker is married?" Fives asked, walking toward the mess hall. "To Senator Amidala, no less? I would have sworn something was going on, but marriage!"

"Of course I believe it," Rex remarked sourly. "I'm 100 credits poorer because of our bet."

"Lighten up, Captain."

Mace Windu was there, too. He was inspecting a new clone company preparing for deployment, an addition to the 281st Legion. There were at least a thousand clones in front of him, standing at attention. So why did he pay any attention to the two who were strolling past on a suspended platform?

He could tell something was up. He quietly excused himself and followed them.

Windu entered the mess hall, still trailing the clones. Sitting in a corner table, away from most of the other clones, sat Rex and Fives. Cloaking his presence and sneaking, back to the wall, Mace slipped up towards them.

"I still can't believe the situation with Skywalker," one of them said. Their voices sounded too alike to tell them apart.

"He's been known to do some crazy things," the other clone objected.

The first lowered his voice. "But get married? That's unheard of!"

"For a Jedi, you mean?"

"Yeah."

Mace Windu's eyes widened. Anakin? He was married? He was going to get to the bottom of this. Walking into the oddly-deserted main kitchen, he activated his comlink.

_"Kenobi here!" _Obi-Wan yelled across the airwaves.

"Hi, Master Kenobi," he greeted.

_"Master Windu," _Obi-Wan said in response.

"Back at the Temple?" Mace inquired.

_"Yes, what's going on? You rarely call this comlink except in emergencies."_

"This is an emergency, at least, one for the Order," Mace corrected.

_"What?" _Obi-Wan asked, growing impatient.

"Apparently, your Padawan is married! Did you know of this?"

Obi-Wan, back at the Temple, hastily put up his mental shields and blew into the microphone to simulate a bad connection. "What's that?" Static "Padawan is a fairy?" He blew into his comlink again, and turned it off.

Master Windu, on the other line was stunned. By his behavior, it seemed that Obi-Wan knew about Skywalker's marriage. He ran back to his own speeder.

Obi-Wan, meanwhile, was similarly shocked. Somehow, Windu learned of the secret marriage. He fumbled with the comlink in his hands. Eventually, he managed to press the right button and call Anakin. He had to warn him.

Meanwhile, at 500 Republica…

It was night time in the Senate District of Coruscant. The glow of lights outside paled in comparison to Coruscant Prime, the large blue star that lit the world during the day. But those lights were still sufficient to cast the master bedroom a light golden glow.

Ahsoka was sleeping by now, but Anakin and his wife sure weren't.

"WOW," Padmé exclaimed, breathing heavily. She looked across the bed towards her husband, both naked under the covers. "You learned some new moves!"

"Yeah," he agreed. "Obi-Wan…"

Padmé sat up, looking at Anakin curiously. "I beg you not to finish that sentence."

He laughed. "No, Padmé. Two weeks ago, he gave me a copy of "Sex For Dummies" as a joke."

"Thank him for me," she began, kissing him again.

As he unconsciously let go of the comforter on the bed, giving him a decent view of her cleavage.

He broke the kiss. "See, Obi Wan probably doesn't have that."

She laughed. "Probably?"

"You never know…"

Suddenly Anakin's comlink, sitting on Padmé's nightstand, started to buzz loudly. He reached to get it, but Padmé touched his arm.

"Let it go," she advised.

* * *

While Anakin and Padmé were in bed and Obi-Wan was frantically trying to call them, Mace Windu pulled up at one of the upper landing pads at 500 Republica. He got into the turbolift.

_What am I going to do?_ Obi-Wan thought frantically, locating Windu through the Force. He couldn't let his Padawan's marriage be discovered. He had to get to Padmé's apartment. Now.

He sprinted down to the Temple Hangar, which was still being repaired from the bombings. Jumping into one of the communal aircraft, he set an immediate course for 500 Republica.

* * *

Mace Windu was furious, to say the least.

He opened the door with the Force, bypassing the security system with a quick hand-wave. The Korun Master walked past the main living area and got to the door leading to the master bedroom…

* * *

"Think you have enough energy for one more time?" Padmé asked, nude and breathing heavily.

"Maybe," Anakin hinted, displaying his usual sly grin that captivated women across the galaxy.

"I'll take that as a yes," she said suggestively, passionately kissing her husband. She turned, not breaking the kiss, and straddled her husband…

As Mace Windu opened the door.

"Ahh!" cried Anakin, lifting Padme aside and pulling the sheets up to cover themselves.

"Knight Skywalker," Mace greeted evenly. "and Senator Amidala."

"What the hell?" Padmé screeched, pulling the comforter up to her neck. "Get out of here!"

"Hi?" the Chosen One tried weakly.

"I hope that this was only an accident." Mace said.

"Um…" Anakin began, looking at Padmé. Force sensitive or not, she still knew what he was going to do. She nodded in encouragement, and he swallowed. Looking up at the Korun Master, he announced, "Master Windu, I believe you know my wife?"

"So it is true," Windu replied. "You have violated the rule of Attachment. On behalf of the High Council, you are now suspended from the Order and you are stripped of your Knighthood."

"You can't do that!" Padmé pleaded.

"The Council will not permit this marriage," Mace replied coldly.

"Some things are more important than the Order," Anakin countered.

Windu sighed. "Expect to be called to the Council tomorrow. We will decide what to do from there."

"Okay!" Anakin ceded. "Now **get out of our bedroom**."

"What's going on?" Ahsoka inquired groggily, entering the room while rubbing one of her eyes. Soon, she realized what was going on. Her hand flew to her mouth in a vain effort to hide her laughter; she had descended into a fit of giggles.

"Snips, it's not funny," Anakin stated, wrapping his right arm around Padmé.

Ahsoka shook her head but kept laughing, leaning against the wall for support.

Mace just stood there silently, Ahsoka was nearly doubled over in hysterics, Padmé didn't know if she wanted to laugh or cry, and Anakin was trying to avoid killing anybody.

_Could things get any worse?_, he wondered.

He found his answer earlier than he expected as Obi-Wan practically fell through the doorway.

"Are you here on business, or do you just like to watch?" Ahsoka laughed, holding her stomach.

"You knew!" Windu accused, pointing his finger at Obi-Wan.

"I trusted him with my life," Obi-Wan remarked mildly, as if he was recounting the weather forecast. "Can't I be trusted with his secret?"

"Secrets are not the way of the Jedi," Mace recited slowly.

"What secrets?" Dormé asked, appearing on the other side of the doorway. She looked at her employer and look-alike in the bed, and reddened. "I heard yelling," she explained, scurrying away as quickly as possible.

"People!" Anakin seethed. "I'm naked and in bed with my wife. Just GET OUT!"

Mace shook his head, while Obi-Wan attempted to suppress a smile. "Expect punishment for your transgressions, Anakin," Windu warned.

"Oh, he does," Padmé announced suggestively, winking. "Now, don't you Jedi have somewhere to be?" Obi-Wan nodded in understanding, and pushed Mace out into the living area. He soon followed, and Padmé began to kiss Anakin again.

"Wait," he said. "Ahsoka's still here."

Padmé cast a baleful look towards her husband's Padawan.

She smiled haughtily. "What? I'm not a Jedi. I don't have somewhere to be."

Using the Force, Anakin lifted her into the air and levitated her out of the room. With a flick of the wrist, he shut and locked the door, then turned his attention back to his wife.

* * *

**And, cut. Sorry, won't let this go to an M-rating. **

**The amount of reviews has skyrocketed. Thank you all for the effort.**

**Hey, Master Windu found out! We know, under all circumstances, that Obi-Wan is exponentially more forgiving than him when it comes to Anakin. So next chapter, it's Anakin, Padme and Obi-Wan vs. The Jedi High Council.**

**Also known as the Battle of Coruscant. :D**

**-ClaptonJr.**


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